Last we talked you met Jett. It's exactly two months since she became party of the family. She's now 8-months old and has blossomed into quite the pooch! No longer scared of everything, she now has to be reminded that not everyone wants to say hi on walks. Meeting people, even those she knows, may involve wariness. Or a great desire to play keep-away that manifests as running away from her new/old friends! So I have a work in progress who is now in obedience classes to get us both into a settled and well behaved state. We need a lot more practice. I'm hoping she'll be better behaved than I am!
Her Favorite Position: Full Superman Sploot
In the first week of June I broke/badly sprained my poor pinky toe stepping over a chair acting as a gate to keep Jett out of the rest of the house. It is taking its darned sweet time healing, and at 6 weeks out now it is still not letting me walk more than about a mile without voicing its displeasure at being used. This makes it rather difficult to go on longer walks with the dog (with her in a weighted backpack to tire her out more), so I've been trying to get her worn out other ways. That's been interesting since she's not interested in fetching. Doesn't really care about treats. She ignores laser pointers, even though she loves chasing lizards. I can't play tug much due to sore hands even though she LOVES to play tug/eviscerate the tug toys. And she's a young German shorthaired pointer with energy to burn. Luckily she has two huge yards to zoom around, one at Mom and Dad's place and my big yard at home. She's managing and, outside of morning and evening zoomies, she's pretty low key. Just after breakfast and around dinner time she turns into a manic shark, but we're working on that. My nickname for her is Sharkie, and the bruises up and down my body show the origin of the name!We're still working on house training and finding out her tells for when she needs to go out. She has solidly gotten the idea that she needs to go outside to do her thing, so we're almost there. I'm going to try jingle bells at the door to see if she'll indicate when she wants out. I foresee her getting the idea and non-stop jingling to get our attention like she does by barking when begging us to play outside with her. It'll work either way. I may go crazy while teaching her, but she'll get it, even if it is just at the parentals' house.
Bird Dog Genes at Work
As a month ago she was 50 pounds and 23" at the withers but still growing like a weed. Other than a lazy eye and food allergies, she's got a clean bill of health and now has active health insurance. Who knows how big she is going to get, but she's already on the high end for her dominant breed size, so I'm scared to think of what she's crossed with. The vet thinks there may even be a smidge of great Dane in her, but I'm hoping not. Her paws are indeed big enough for it though. And thank goodness she finally found out that she is capable of jumping into my car by herself. Lifting her is a pain--literally. She has not yet figured out that she can probably just step/hop over the chairs I have blocking the way into other parts of house and it's only a matter of time. But she's almost ready for the freedom anyway, given how house training is going. I am dreading the time that will come (soon) when she figures out how to lift her head and steal things from the countertops! Till then, I'll just deal with her tweenage temper tantrums and training and try to keep her occupied. And focus on getting her recall better, as right now she's got a massive case of selective hearing. Just like a moody and tired tweenager/teenager.
Bah! Kids!
But it's good to have a new furry companion around (though I miss my old bear dog.) I can't wait for the weather to be less ridiculously hot/my body stopping misbehaving so we can go out camping! Maybe this one can have a chance to scare off a bear at some point.
